Teachers distressed: Call to lift ban on recruitments in universities

PESHAWAR: The prolonged ban on recruitments and promotions in the public sector universities has caused unrest to the teaching fraternity and other staff members, who have urged the government to lift the ban forthwith.

Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) in a recent meeting has set a one-week deadline for the government to lift the ban, otherwise they would launch a protest drive. Governor Shah Farman, who is also chancellor of public sector universities, had imposed the ban on recruitments and promotions about one year ago. According to a senior officer, two kinds of the ban had been imposed on different universities. One, general directives had been issued by the governor to stop recruitments, promotions and postings at the universities where regular vice-chancellors were not available and they were being run by caretaker set-up.

The process for appointment of regular vice-chancellors is in progress and the ban would stay there till the arrival of the regular vice-chancellor. Another ban had been specifically imposed on three universities – University of Peshawar, Agriculture University Peshawar and Gomal University Dera Ismail Khan – due to financial constraints. These universities were unable to pay salaries and pensions to their existing employees due to the financial crunch, he said. He added that the government was aware of the fact that certain selection boards have already been held at the University of Peshawar. Some cases of the universities have been processed and hopefully the ban of those specific cases would be conditionally lifted soon, he added. The ban has been badly affecting the functioning of the universities’ affairs.

On the one hand, the final notifications of teachers could not be issued so far though their selection boards have already been held, while the contracts of a number of employees could not be renewed, on the other. In the University of Peshawar alone, the contracts of some 630 employees including 17 teachers could not be renewed due to the ban. The case of the University of Peshawar is more serious in nature than other universities. The university had advertised different positions in 2018, for which the recruitment process has already been completed. But before the issuance of the final notification, the ban was clamped, causing a delay in the recruitments and promotions.

Acting vice-chancellor of the university Prof Dr Mohammad Abid told The News that the university has already taken up the issue of the ban with the government. A number of requests have been submitted to the government, he said. “As soon as, we receive a green signal from the government, we would resume the suspended recruitment promotion process speedily,” he said. Dr Abid said that financial constraint of the university was a fact, but they had to run the university as well and without having enough faculty and staff, it would not be possible.

He said that contracts of scores of employees expired in July this year, which needed to be renewed. However, he was optimistic that the government would accept their request on case to case basis. He said that the university was also making some internal arrangements to overcome the financial issues. Some positions had also been advertised in the University of Swabi, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan and other universities two years ago. But the process could not be completed there too due to the ban. Peshawar University Teachers Association (PUTA), the representative body of the teachers, and some other groups of the university teachers have been taking up the issue from time to time to press the government to lift the ban but to no avail.

Recently, the PUTA sent a letter to the newly appointed pro-vice-chancellor and acting vice-chancellor Prof Dr Mohammad Abid Khan, asking him to use his administrative power and convene a meeting of the Syndicate and accord a final approval to the appointment and promotion of a number of applicants. The FAPUASA deadline to the government would expire on Wednesday. If the government failed to resolve the issue till then, they would launch a protest drive, said Dr Fazle Nasir, president, PUTA, while talking to The News.

He said that PUTA was concerned by the long ban and wanted it to be lifted at the earliest. Dr Fazle Nasir said PUTA had already launched a protest drive and staged a sit-in against the ban. They ended the protest campaign after the concrete assurance by the government. “We may launch another protest from Wednesday next after the expiry of the deadline. But I hope things would improve before the given date,” the PUTA chief said.